


A Bad Memory, And a Worse Love

by sweetlittlemissme



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Child Abuse, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Moving On, carwash siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-17
Updated: 2015-09-17
Packaged: 2018-04-21 05:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4816826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetlittlemissme/pseuds/sweetlittlemissme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a house on our street but we don't talk about what happens in there when she's home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Bad Memory, And a Worse Love

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Allegrolite's (http://allegrolite-archived.tumblr.com/post/100064428835/a)  
> Such a great song

There was peace in the house for the first time in months. There was the soft voices of small children and their father's laughter as they all played together, both sounds that had been missing as of late. 

It was never mentioned but everyone knew it but when there was laughter and joy, one member of the household wasn't there. When the occupants were silent during the day but at night shouts could be heard and the sounds of things breaking followed with a shout and gasp of surprise and pain. It meant she was home and she was brutal to the man she 'loved'. Though if anyone could say one good thing about the situation it was that the children were never harmed, physically at least. 

The eldest child had striking red hair and her father's bright green eyes. She was built like her mother but had her father's wit. The youngest was a dead ringer for his mother with her right blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. He was a bright young thing and no one could place where he got his personality from he was so different from the rest but it could be guessed that it was from his father as well. The children adored each other, they would spend the days playing and exploring together and with the other kids in the street. They adored their father who would cook with them, play with them, teach them things, just being with them while there mother was off god knows where with the UNSC.

For know though the house would be at peace. Without the fear of pain or loud shouting the little family would re-engage with the rest of the community instead of hiding away. Little Caroline would run off and play with the other children, Leonard would stand and watch her with the other parents, with David tucked into his arms holding on to his small plush cat for dear life and snuggling up to father for all the attention he could get. 

For the next three months life would be happy and peaceful.

But then she'd come home and it would begin again. Leonard would appear covered in bruises and marks, David would cling to his father and Caroline would pick fights against other kids that she wouldn't stand a chance against. 

Shock erupted from the neighborhood when David appeared with Caroline one morning while his mother was home with a marbling bruise on his face in the shape of a hand. What no one saw was were the rings of bruises on Caroline's wrists from her mother had grabbed her in an attempt to stop her from helping her father. What no one saw were Leonard;s broken and bruised ribs that he had gotten when he tried to stop her from further hurting their children. 

What everyone saw was the gash on his face made from a broken bottle and the stitches that followed. 

Still no one said anything. 

She left again and the wounds were healing, some taking more time than others. Caroline's hatred for her mother grew as the school counsellor suggested that she take some form of sport or martial arts to release her aggression. How dare they try to make her like her mother. It wasn't like she wasn't smart enough to know how her mother treated them was wrong on multiple levels, how dare they try to make he become the same. She was anger and hurting, angry at her 'mother', then at her father for enrolling her in kick boxing classes. She didn't want to use violence like her mother. But as the weeks grew on she realised she loved the classes, but burst into tears at that realisation and refused to go to class that week. She couldn't stand the thought of becoming like her. 

Leonard held his crying daughter close and reassured her that her enjoyment of her sport hardly meant she was a violent person, she knew better than to use the techniques she was learning outside of class or the ring. It had taken some time and convincing but Leonard got her to go back to class a few days later. He never did tell her that Allison had never learnt how to kick box. 

Leonard didn't ask Allison before adopting a cat. David had been asking for one for months and when some at works cat had kittens that they were trying to find good homes for, he didn't give it or her a second thought. The look on both kids faces when he showed them their new pet was worth what ever punishment she would have in store. They named the cat Alpha, the kids joking that his research failed he'd still have Alpha the cat. He laughed. He watched the kids play with the small tortoiseshell ball of fluff, watched how he'd spend the nights with David or how every now and then he'd wake up with Alpha asleep beside him on Allison's pillow. 

She wasn't impressed with the cat to say the least, but Caroline managed to distract her with some talk about her kick boxing while Leonard hid David away with Alpha. The glare he received from his wife put him on edge as he re-entered the room, Caroline excused herself like she learnt to so long ago. If looks could kill he would have been dead a hundred times over by now. He should have expected the blow, but it took him by surprise and he was sent to the floor. He to cover his face but she just walked away. It was only a warning for what was to come. 

He didn't really lie to his work partners he decided, he had fallen down the stairs in his house and broken his arm and damaged some muscles in his leg. Granted he only fell because he was tripped but a fall is a fall. He'd much rather her take her aggression out on him than the kids any day. They'd both been awaken by the sound of him crashing into the base of the stairs with a loud thud and sickening crack of his arm. They'd found their parents at the bottom of the stairs. He wasn't sure how much they'd seen or heard but he hoped it was only her display of pseudo affection as she pat his hair while she was on the line to the hospital. 

David had seen all of it, he had been heading to his sister's room when he heard his father fall. He leant over to peak between the banisters on the top floor to see his mother crush his father's arm beneath her heavy boots she wore when she left. He struggled to contain his whimpers of fear, he'd suffered her wrath once and had no intention of doing so again. In the morning when the sibling were alone he told Caroline everything about what he saw and heard and shook with rage. Once her brother left her room she punched her pillow over and over again. 

When their father returned from the hospital neither of them left his side. Trying to turn themselves into his personal protection. Neither believed him when he said he was okay, they knew it was a lie. They both wanted to ignore the woman in the house but by now they knew that ignoring her wouldn't help their father. 

She stayed home longer than usual this time because of Leonard's broken arm, not that it helped him heal any quicker. But it had given him a chance to think and make up his mind about what he'd been thinking about for a while now. He waited a few days after she left and then began packing up what he needed and what Caroline and David needed, he helped the two of them pack what they needed. His office had been happy to grant his transfer request, especially when they found out Allison didn't know he was moving. So with his job moved and things packed he got the kids into the car and drove off leaving the life they all knew behind them.

It was hard to tell if the children were content with the move, they were upset about leaving their friends behind but they weren't going to have to deal with their mother any more and that brought a smile to their faces. It was odd moving to a new house, but they loved it when they found the tree house in the backyard, Leonard liked the fact that said tree house was right outside the office window so he could keep and eye on the two of them. He let the two of them run free in the backyard while he unpacked his office with Alpha watching over him curiously and cautiously taking in his new surroundings. Things were looking up. 

It had been over a year since he'd last seen Allison, the kids were now both in school and both enjoying their new neighborhood. Leonard had found a place that would take Caroline to teach her kick boxing, David would spend evening with his father figuring out how to build circuits and build robots. Leonard's own work was proving to be successful and he had received another grant and had countless companies and the like interested in what he was doing.

It was a quiet evening like any other, they'd finished dinner and Caroline was doing her homework, David playing with Alpha and Leonard doing the dishes, when there was a knock on the door. As Leonard looked through the peep hole he jumped back in shock that was not a face he expected to see. Glaring at him from the other side of the door was angry looking Allison. He didn't say anything to her but backed away from the door grabbed the kids and put them into a closet in the hallway with Alpha. David was shaking and Caroline looked angry. He placed a finger on his lips and they both nodded in response, they were not to make a noise. Before he shut the door on them he place Caroline his phone, trying to ignore the wide eyed look she gave him before heading back to meet with his fate. 

That was the last thing he remember when he woke up in a hospital bed hearing David scream as he was being dragged away by a woman in a suit. Out of fear for where they were taking him he jumped out of the ignoring the pain and grabbing his son, who flung his arms around him refusing to let go. That was shortly followed by a blur if red joining her brother. Allison had done a number on him but just by the look of the two of them she must have found them, both had bruises and Caroline a scratch on her check, almost an exact replica of his own. 

He wanted to press charges not for himself but against the injuries against both kids, but found out she had already been deployed on what was being called a suicide mission. Her last chance to see her family and she hurt them all more than she had before. 

None of them knew how to feel when they were delivered a flag and letter saying Allison Church was deceased. 

But there was no love lost. 

It meant they could finally move on without fearing her any more.

**Author's Note:**

> I've always found this headcanon to be such and interesting one and well I decided to give writing it a shot. 
> 
> Please leave a comment or Kudos if you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr@sweetlittlemissme


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